Feature Channels: Religion

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To better understand virtue and vice and how to define good character, The Character Project at Wake Forest University has granted funding to theologians and philosophers from around the world.

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Researchers at Thomas Jefferson University and the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil analyzed the cerebral blood flow (CBF) of Brazilian mediums during the practice of psychography, described as a form of writing whereby a deceased person or spirit is believed to write through the medium’s hand. The new research revealed intriguing findings of decreased brain activity during mediumistic dissociative state which generated complex written content. Their findings will appear in the November 16th edition of the online journal PLOS ONE.

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Pastor burnout — a trend that has led many ministers to leave their posts — has in recent years spurred everything from clergy health initiatives to sabbaticals to pastor burnout blogs.

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Blending religion with familism — a strong commitment to lifelong marriage and childbearing — dampens secular civic participation, according to research by a Baylor University sociologist.

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A former monk/civil engineer/business manager, who now teaches Arabic at Baylor University, has translated the New Testament for the first time into Arabic — one of the fastest-growing languages on Twitter — directly from what most scholars believe was Jesus’ primary language.

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Hindus and Muslims are less likely than Christians and Jews to have premarital sex, and Muslims are the least likely among people of these religious groups to have extramarital sex, according to a new study that analyzed data on premarital and extramarital sexual behaviors in over 30 developing countries around the world.

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Thomas Hirschl, a Cornell University professor of development sociology, is the lead author of a recently published study that examines religious polarization among American voters. He comments on a Pew survey released this week noting a rapid shift in religious identity in the U.S.

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Thomas Hirschl, a Cornell University professor of development sociology whose research focuses on social class differences, is the lead author of a study that examines religious polarization among American voters. He comments on those findings, and their implications for the 2012 presidential race.

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Judi Neal’s new book, The Spirit of Project Management, examines the role of spirituality in project management and explains how spirituality inspires team members and positively affects performance.

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As the Christian retailing industry grows, so too grows tension when artists must decide whether to target their message and marketing efforts toward non-Christians.

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Concerned bioethicists and medical professionals, including faculty members from the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics, have sent a letter to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg supporting the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's proposed amendment to the city health code regarding ritual circumcision.

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The next superstar of the Muslim world might not be a political activist or a crusading journalist; instead it just might be a Lebanese singer who was raised in Sweden, worked in New York City and lives in Malaysia. That’s only one of the fascinating insights Dr. Sean Foley gained during his 15-month trip to Southeast Asia in 2010-11.

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Three prominent experts on Mormon history, culture and religion and a former Utah senator are the featured speakers for an Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis forum on Mormonism in today’s society.

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American megachurches use stagecraft, sensory pageantry, charismatic leadership and an upbeat, unchallenging vision of Christianity to provide their congregants with a powerful emotional religious experience, according to research from the University of Washington.

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David Montgomery, a University of Washington geologist, is the author of a new book that explores the long history of religious thinking on matters of geological discovery, particularly flood stories such as the biblical account of Noah's ark.

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A University of South Carolina sociologist uses 100 years of New York Times obituaries as a cultural barometer.

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A new political ad by presidential candidate Mitt Romney, in which he accuses President Obama of “waging war on religion,” is an opening salvo in religious rhetoric that likely will escalate as the November election approaches, predicts a Baylor University political expert and author.

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Fears of terrorism in Europe and the United States have deteriorated into an irrational suspicion of Muslims, which will continue until the West turns its critical eye inward.

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New UT psychology study shows the reasons why people find logic in magical rituals and the supernatural. The study provides new insight into cognitive reasoning processes — and how people intuitively make sense out of the unknown.

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As candidates and campaigns reach out to people of faith and religious organizations join the fray over hot topics such as same-sex marriage and contraception coverage, a 32-page document drafted by national religious leaders (“Religious Expression in American Public Life: A Joint Statement of Current Law) answers election-relevant questions about the separation of church and state.

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A common belief in the West is that al Qaeda wishes to impose Islam everywhere. However, researchers at Arizona State University have released a study of extremist's use of religious texts in communications that suggests that Islamists’ goals are much more modest.

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Pixar’s new animated movie, simply titled “Brave,” opens in theaters this week. But, what makes someone brave or honest or compassionate or encourages any of the other virtues we tend to admire in fictional characters and real people?

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Generosity is accepted and encouraged as a practice, but the reasons behind the behavior are not well understood. An interdisciplinary team of faculty working with Arizona State University’s Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict are exploring what motivates people to be generous and how religion influences their actions.

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Many churches are missing opportunities to involve Christian women in philanthropy, with ministry leaders too often speaking “man to man” — despite the fact that women now control more than 51 percent of personal wealth nationally, according to a 2012 national survey.

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Michele Dillon, a scholar of Catholicism and professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire, is available to discuss the strong response by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) to the report critical of the Catholic nuns issued by the Vatican.

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Hindu and Buddhist groups have grown steadily in the United States since changes in immigration laws in 1965 and 1992, according to a Baylor University professor who helped compile the newly released 2010 U.S. Religion Census.

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The National Day of Prayer typically sparks debate about whether the day violates the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution. This year’s observance on May 3 however, likely will take on added significance, as 2012 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Engel v. Vitale, which invalidated official prayer in public schools, says John Inazu, JD, first amendment expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. Inazu and Gregory Magarian, JD, constitutional law expert and WUSTL law professor, tackle the establishment clause question.

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In "Testing Prayer: Science and Healing," published this month, Indiana University religious studies professor Candy Gunther Brown argues that the practice of praying for healing can and should be a subject for scientific study.

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International surveys about the depth of people’s belief in God reveal vast differences among nations, ranging from 94 percent of people in the Philippines who said they always believed in God, compared to only 13 percent of people in the former East Germany. Belief in God is higher among older people, regardless of where they live.

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While trust in science remained stable among people who self-identified as moderates and liberals in the United States between 1974 and 2010, trust in science fell among self-identified conservatives by more than 25 percent during the same period, according to new research.

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Is it OK to protest God’s actions—or inactions? This was the key question behind recent studies led by Case Western Reserve University psychologist Julie Exline.

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As women enter the ministry, they will find that “there will be voices inside and outside telling you, ‘You’re divine’ or ‘You’re demonic.’ But both are telling you a lie,” Julie Pennington-Russell, lead pastor of the First Baptist Church of Decatur, Ga., told an audience of primarily women at a Baylor University conference.

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On the 50th anniversary of Engel v. Vitale, expert address the battle over prayer in public schools, and sets his account of the decision in the larger historical and political context, citing battles over a wide range of religious activities in public schools throughout American history.

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Michele Dillon, professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire and the JE and Lillian Byrne Tipton Distinguished Visiting Professor in Catholic Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is available to discuss Catholics and the issue of artificial contraception.

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Friendships forged at church seem to play a major role in people’s religious activities and beliefs — even when it comes to their views about how exclusive heaven is, according to a national study by a Baylor University sociology researcher.

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A new philosophical dictionary titled "Words of Wisdom: A Philosophical Dictionary for the Perennial Tradition" offers precise, yet clear and understandable accounts of well over a thousand key philosophical terms.

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Passersby who stopped to answer surveys taken next to churches in the Netherlands and England reported themselves as more politically conservative and more negative toward non-Christians than did people questioned within sight of government buildings — a finding that may be significant when it comes to voting, according to a Baylor University study.

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New Vanderbilt research shows that though the Republican base is generally biased against Mormonism, Mitt Romney’s religion would not hurt his chances among the GOP faithful as a presidential candidate in the general election.

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An international study of holiday shopping and religion finds that dominant religious groups are more likely to experience “consumption mass hysteria” while shoppers in minority religions may view malls much differently: as central meeting places that “can play an active role in the creation of a sacred event.”

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With the start of every winter holiday season come the mainstays of American Christmas: the toy commercials, 24-hour holiday radio stations, Christmas trees and photos with Santa. Amidst it all, families of minority cultures and religions often struggle to establish themselves in the pervasiveness of secularized Christmas. But some of the most challenged are interfaith families, in which each parent was raised in a different religious or cultural tradition, says Philip Cunningham, Ph.D., professor of theology at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia.